Update on work planned for Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens

Plans for vital repairs and conservation work at Sunderland’s Museum and Art Gallery are due to be decided by councillors next week.

Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee is expected to discuss an application for the historic building near Mowbray Park.

The plans, submitted by the council earlier this year, proposed internal and external works to safeguard the original 1879 structure for future generations.

This includes repairs to the roofing, structural timber, external joinery and glazing, as well as “addressing damage to internal areas caused by active water ingress to the building”.

Proposed external works include alterations to the roof, with new materials, the replacement of the flat roof of the central tower and the removal of a flagpole.

Other works include two “redundant” roof lights being replaced with slate roofing, as well as new stainless steel gutters, the removal of “redundant and defected pipework” and a new security door to the central tower.

A design and access statement submitted to council officials this year said the Grade II-listed building had been developed several times since its original construction.

This included expansion in the 1960s with a “large modernist extension on the site of the former winter gardens” and a new entrance building and winter gardens being built in the early 2000s.

New proposals for repairs follow Sunderland City Council gaining funding from the Arts Council’s MEND (Museum Estates and Development Fund) to “undertake repairs to the building fabric”.

The city council has previously said the oldest part of the building is a priority for investment in advance of larger lottery-funded refurbishment plans.

A council committee report prepared for decision-makers next week has recommended the first phase of repair works for approval.

The report, prepared by council planning officers, states the museum and art gallery plans “demonstrate a well-informed yet practical conservation approach to the repair and improvements”.

Council planners said the scheme would “ensure that the architectural and historic integrity and significance of the listed building will be conserved” while “sustaining its use” as a museum.

It was also noted that the scheme was prompted by “the need to repair, and address the effects of water ingress, at the 1879 building which has and continues to create damage to the existing integrity, and historic interest and fabric of the building”.

New plans aim to “conserve an historic built environment resource whose future could otherwise have been placed in doubt and jeopardised by the effects of continued and sustained water ingressand therefore, maintenance”.

The council report adds: “The proposals are supported as they will repair, improve and secure the long-term conservation of an important landmark listed building in a largely sensitive manner and ensure its continued operational use as Sunderland’s principal museum”.

Applicants state the museum is of “national significance as the earliest municipal museum outside of London, and a reflection of widespread social reform – particularly relating to education of the working class – during the 19th century”.

If plans for the repair scheme are approved next week, it is expected that a scaffold will be erected around the building’s north, east and west elevations and central tower to carry out work.

The council stressed the museum would remain open for the duration of the works with the visitor entrance on Burdon Road remaining in use.

A decision on the planning application will be made by the Planning and Highways Committee on Monday, January 8.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at City Hall from 5.30pm.

For more information on the planning application, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 23/02281/LB3